A Land Of Dreams
by Ice Dagger
Summary: A ficlet about Cho Hakkai and a reoccuring nightmare I assume he has. Please be kind. Disclaimed!


_A/N: This is a Gonou ficlet. Just a quick glimpse into a nightmare that I imagine he has over and over again. Mostly based off the manga, volume 6. There was an image of Kannan that stuck in my head for a week or two, continuously haunting my muse to write about it. So after a while, my muse finally convinced me that it was worthwhile to write it and post it. So here's my version of terror. Enjoy and review!_

**Stained**

The walls are wet; long thick rivulets of red run rampant down the strong stones. The air is heavy, filling my heaving lungs with humid, stale air and affronting my senses with the sharp scent of decay. Bodies lie crushed behind me, what's left of their faces contorted in pain, their skin torn in so many places that there's barely any left to cover the tattered muscles that bulge over cracked, crushed bones. All around me lay countless corpses; those that still had mouths left them agape, then there were others that I had viciously ripped their jaws away from their face. Those that still eyes were still wide with shock, but then there were those whose eyes were hanging out of their sockets. Some are missing their throats, some are missing their hands, some are missing their legs, and some are lying beside their decapitated heads. I chuckle nervously to myself, running a hand over my face and almost reveling in the feel of the moist streak that now covers one side of my face - it's stained garnet with the blood of at least one hundred demons.

I hear your voice echoing in my head: _You're hands are so beautiful._

I doubt you'd say that now, if you could see them.

I push the thought aside, urging my body forward on shaky legs. I'm not shaking because I just ruthlessly murdered every demon in this house, this prison. I'm not shaking because their eyes are boring into my soul, hatred still burning in their unseeing eyes. I'm shaking because I'm fighting within myself. My brain screams for more blood; my heart shouts for your face; my body cries out for rest. I follow my feet wearily, stumbling away from the blood bath and into the narrow stairwell. I fall against the wall, my shoulder howling in agony as it connects with the gray brickwork of the wall. I manage to stagger down the stairs, sometimes sliding down two at a time, other times stomping and tripping my way at a painfully slow pace. Behind me, a trail of blood trickles and flows, following like an overeager puppy: my faithful companion.

The stairs suddenly slide away and disappear into the basement floor; leaving me in a large, almost empty hallway. On the wall hang numerous rusted devices, each one looking more devious than the last. How many of these touched your soft skin? How many times were you poked and prodded just for the sick pleasure of these monsters? My blood boils with anger, my eyes burning with hatred and furious tears that my eyes were too tired to shed. On my other side, chamber upon caged chamber jutted up out of the stained stones. Most are empty, some still house the skeletal remains of prisoners long since forgotten or replaced by new flesh – your flesh. A small cry, a broken sob hits my ears: your voice. Immediately, my exhaustion is forgotten. I race forward, watching each sty for any sign of you. Skeleton, skeleton, empty. Skeleton, skeleton, empty. Body. I skid to a stop, the blood on my shoes slicking the floor. "Kanan!" I hear myself shout, but my mouth doesn't move.

You look up, your eyes and face glimmering with tears. "Oh Gonou."

I kneel in the bloody footprint my shoes have made, taking your soft, smooth hands in my burgundy fingers and holding them tightly. "It's ok. We're leaving." I try to sooth you. You're still crying. I pull you closer to the bars, pressing your face against the cold metal. You wince, and I don't care. That means you're alive. You're still here. And we can escape.

You turn away from me and look down at the floor, now pooling with the crimson that drips from my clothes. "No, Gonou. We can't leave."

I freeze. That wasn't the answer I wanted. I shake my head. "Of course we can. We'll get out of here; buy a little house far, far away. We'll be happy again. I promise." I try to look into your eyes, try to convince you.

You lift your head to look at me. And your eyes are empty. Gone. I start back, horrified. "Kanan?" I ask. My heart is beating so hard that I'm sure it will break through my ribs and leave me lying in this hellhole, like the other bodies I have left piled on the main floor.

"We can never leave this place." You say once again, the hands I once held in my own disintegrating, turning to dust and falling in a pile onto the floor. Blood pours from your vacant sockets, spilling down your thinning face, staining the bones that have replaced your cheeks. "You're hands are stained with so much blood now, Gonou. We can't be happy anymore. Not with so many souls watching you."

The ghastly images of the demons upstairs appear behind you. Some are nothing more than ragged muscles no longer hidden by skin. Some are screaming and sputtering as blood pours through gaping holes beneath their broken heads. Some are waving at me with their wrists, the hands resting by their feet. Some are scooting along the floor, trailing blood from the stumps of where their legs once were. Some are holding their heads under the arms, watching me with vengeance burning in their vacant eyes. Those who still have hands grasp mine. Your hands are among the rabble that holds me. I twist and turn my wrists and body, trying to escape what should be a weak grasp. It is too strong. My body gives out. The bars disappear and I am pulled into the group of cadavers. You stand in front of me, your body deteriorating, the once living flesh falling to the floor to be devoured by the maggots that have appeared. I reach out for you, and you turn away.

"You must pay for what you have done, Gonou."

And then the remains of my enemies set to do their work. They rip away at my body, those without their hands using their teeth to tear away my flesh. I scream and fight as pain overtakes my senses. My arms are eaten away to the bone in a matter of seconds. My throat is eaten away, and is gushing blood and a strange, wheezing groan with each breathy scream I try to make. You just stand there, with a skeleton grin, staring down at me with empty eyes.

"You cannot escape, Gonou."

And then I start awake, soaked in a cold, bloody sweat.


End file.
